Difference between revisions of "Cognitive dissonance"
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===Examples of cognitive dissonance=== | ===Examples of cognitive dissonance=== | ||
* A mother, who believes that her son is a good boy, learns that he has committed a serious crime; | * A mother, who believes that her son is a good boy, learns that he has committed a serious crime; | ||
| + | * An atheist, who believes that there is no design or purpose in biological life, faces arguments and evidence that support the existence of a designer; | ||
| + | * A preacher, who thinks he is righteous, finds himself tempted to sin; | ||
===Responses to cognitive dissonance=== | ===Responses to cognitive dissonance=== | ||
Revision as of 13:14, October 10, 2008
Cognitive dissonance is stress or discomfort caused by simultaneously holding contradictory ideas.
Examples of cognitive dissonance
- A mother, who believes that her son is a good boy, learns that he has committed a serious crime;
- An atheist, who believes that there is no design or purpose in biological life, faces arguments and evidence that support the existence of a designer;
- A preacher, who thinks he is righteous, finds himself tempted to sin;
Responses to cognitive dissonance
People respond to the uncomfortable feelings associated with cognitive dissonance in a number of ways, including:
- Resolution: Identifying the source of the contradiction and adjusting one one or both of the contradicting beliefs to eliminate the contradiction;
- Rationalization: Inventing faulty justifications in an effort to maintain both contradictory ideas as true;
- Denial: Denying the existence of a contradiction where one exists
George Orwell famously discussed cognitive dissonance in his novel 1984, using the term doublethink.